Marukawa Publishing Host Department
by LeMinaChan
Summary: What if Marukawa had a host club...?
1. 1 Not Gay

****Disclaimer: I do not own SiH or OHSHC. If I did, I'd be hella lit living in Tamaki's mansion and playing pranks on Onodera and Takano with the Hitachiin twins, and eating cake with Honey, Mori, Kisa, and Hatori. But I don't. ;_; So, you'll have to settle with this fanfic. Enjoy!****

"What?" The brunette leaned in closer to the woman, just to clarify that he hadn't heard wrong. "Shoujo manga? I applied for the literature department. Are you sure there isn't some mistake?"

"No, it says right here," The woman holds the paper out to him, pointing to a specific spot. "Onodera Ritsu, Emerald shoujo manga department. Come this way, Mr. Onodera, I'll show you to the Emerald Department.

Onodera sighs, standing from his chair at the same time the lady does. She sweeps her hand towards the hallway, and the brunette regretfully follows.

 _'This sucks'_ Onodera thinks to himself, looking downward. ' _I came here because I wanted to work on literature. Now I'm going to have to quit and find another job again.'_

The brunette man holds his stomach.

 _'I feel sick.'_

"Ah, excuse me?" The general affairs lady turns as Onodera calls out to her. "Can I go to the bathroom quick?"

"Oh, sure!" The black haired woman smiles and turns her body towards the sick brunette. "The bathroom should be just down that hall there, you should have no problem finding it. If you can't find me when you get back, ask around for the Emerald Department."

"Ah, thank you." He bows, and quickly strides in the direction the woman pointed out.

 _'This is the reason I left my last company,'_ The brunette thinks to himself , making his way down the hallway with his arms wrapped around his torso. ' _I wanted to work on literature. I want to be able to make real masterpieces, books people will cherish for a long time.'_

Onodera sighs to himself as he arrives inside the men's bathroom, stopping at one of the sinks. He stares at his reflection in the large clean mirror. His vibrant emerald eyes glare back.

 _'Well,'_ He continues on in his head, turning the tap on and washing his face. _'This is what I get for being so jaded.'_

The brunette man glares down as he wipes his face with a paper towel.

 _'No! That isn't my fault! It's...'_ His mind wanders off onto the memories of someone he used to cherish a long time ago.

Onodera catches himself, and rubs his face harder.

"What are you doing?" He whispers to himself, despite there being no one else in the restroom with him, and smacks the side of his head. "Stop thinking about someone who's face you can't even remember!"

Onodera sighs, for what seemed like the millionth time, and lowers the towel from his face. He returns to staring at himself in the mirror, studying his appearance.

Onodera shakes his head violently in attempt to clear his head of weird thoughts, and throws the paper towel in his hand away.

 _'Well, I might as well check out the Emerald Department before I quit, it's something I could take to my next company.'_

There just so happened to be two female workers walking past, talking about the Emerald Department.

"Are you headed to the Emerald Department again after work today?" One of the women asks the other.

"Yeah, all I have to do is drop this off to the editor in chief and I'll be done with work today, so I'll just stay there until the building closes." The other answers almost smugly, giggling.

"Lucky! That damn Yokozawa is making me do a bunch of paperwork after my lunch break." The first one pouts, crossing her arms.

Onodera's eyes follow the two middle aged women, and soon he finds himself following them from a distance.

 _'These editors must be some legends or something if other editors and workers go to their department so often.'_ Onodera thinks to himself, looking down at the floor.

When he looks up, he is just in time to see the woman with the package wave to the other, and disappear behind a pink door.

"Why pink of all colors?" Onodera mumbles to himself, slowly shuffling towards it.

The brunette reaches down for the golden handle, and pushes on it, only to find that the door is heavier than it looks.

"You've got to be kidding me. Who makes a door this heavy?" The small brunette curses under his breath, changing his stance before pushing on the door once more.

The bright pink door finally gives way under his pressure, and opens very slowly.

But he was not prepared for, and is surprised by the abundance of rose petals that blow into his face, and into his mouth.

Onodera quickly spits out a few of the red petals.

 _'Now what the hell-'_

The brunette's thoughts are cut off at the sound of unified singing voices.

"Welcome~!"

Onodera takes a few seconds to stare inside the room, and blinks once. Then twice.

He finally spins on his heel and quickly walks away.

 _'What the hell was that? That was no editing department.'_ Onodera thinks to himself, just short of sprinting away from the pink door.

Suddenly he is stopped abruptly by a strong tug on the back of his shirt, and he is quite literally dragged back into the room.

 _'Shit!'_ The brunette struggles against the person pulling him. _'I knew it was a mistake coming here! I'm being abducted on my first day!'_

"Where do you think you're going?" The person dragging Onodera asks playfully, dropping him onto the floor inside the room. Onodera holds his collar in pain as his kidnapper walks around him into his eyesight.

His captor looked young and very short, his black hair parted in the middle. Onodera glares up at him from the floor. _'How the hell did he manage to drag me here?'_

"Oh look, our first male guest!" Someone cheers from across the room, and a man walks up next to the short one. He has light brown hair, and his eyes are closed as he smiles down at the brunette on the floor.

"I didn't know there were openly gay homos at Marukawa..." Another person with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes murmurs as he walks up beside the smiling man.

"Excuse me?!" Onodera bursts, irritated.

"Homo or no homo, they're still our guests." Another voice booms, and his shoes are just as loud as his voice as he walks over.

The tall man has dark hair swept over his amber eyes, and black rectangular glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He rests his hands on his small hips once he comes to a stop in front of the confused brunette, and everyone else moves aside.

"Oi." The man looks down at Onodera, and the latter flinches at the tone of his voice. "I know who you are. You're the newbie, Onodera Ritsu."

The amber eyed man clicks his tongue, and smirks down at Onodera. "I didn't think you were gay, though."

Onodera grits his teeth, his fingers rolling up to form fists at his sides. "But I'm not-"

"Nevertheless," Onodera is cut off by the big boss man, and the brunette's hate for him only grows. "We still welcome you to the Emerald Department, and the Marukawa Publishing Host Department."

"Haah?" Onodera peers up at the man, clearly confused. Then realization dawns on him. "You mean the Emerald Department is a host club as well?"

"Not just Emerald," The sandy brown haired man from before holds up a finger, leaning on the smiling one's shoulder. "Me and Yokozawa aren't from Emerald."

He points further into the room, and Onodera follows the path of his finger to another dark haired male, typing away furiously on his laptop.

"That's nice and all," Onodera finally takes this as a chance to get onto his feet, and begins backing away towards the door. "But I think I should be going."

As Onodera turns on his heel, a hand slams the door shut, blocking his line of path.

"Now then," The boss gives Onodera a fake smile, and the latter's eyebrow twitches in annoyance. "Which type are you into?"

"Type?" Onodera asks unbelievingly, really wanting to leave.

"There's the strong and silent type, Hatori-san." The short guy begins introductions, motioning over to a dark brunette who had been looming over the group in silence.

"There's me, Kisa Shouta, the boy lolita," He smiles, jerking a thumb towards himself. Onodera looks like he wants to throw up again.

"The cool type, Yokozawa Takafumi," Kisa gestures to the man typing away on his laptop, not paying attention to them at all.

"The mischievous type, Kirishima Zen and Mino-san." The two wave, and an angry tick forms on Onodera's forehead.

"And then there's-"

"Me," The boss man leans closer to Onodera, gripping the latter's chin and tilting his head up towards his face. "Takano Masamune, the princely type."

The brunette slaps Takano's hand away, escaping under his arm.

"Like I was trying to say before," Onodera finally has a chance to talk, and looks onto the entire group. "I'm not gay, I was told that I'm starting work here."

'Though not for very long.' He really wanted to add on, but decided against it.

"I'll just go down and get my resignation slip now." Onodera murmurs to himself, headed towards the door for the third time since he arrived.

"Hmmph." A new voice huffs, and Onodera turns to find that the voice belonged to Yokozawa. "Hasn't even been here five minutes and he's already resigning. Masamune, you've hired a quitter."

Onodera grits his teeth, and turns his body around to fully face the man.

"I am not a quitter!" Onodera declares, fisting his hands at his sides. "I never wanted to-"

"Well, we should show you the ropes if you're going to be working here." Mino is the one to cut Onodera off, throwing an arm around the brunette's shoulder.

"The guests should be coming in around ten minutes, make sure the noob is ready by then." Takano crosses his arms over the folder in his hand, and begins walking away towards his desk.

"Ten minutes?!" Onodera spins around to face Takano, utter bewilderment evident on his face.

Takano stops, and turns his head back towards the group. "I assume you should be able to do at least the basics, Onodera Ritsu."

Without another word, Takano turns back around and walks away.

 _'I'm going to kill him!'_


	2. 2 Natural

_'So here's what I've learned_ ,' Onodera thinks to himself, slouched at a table with a small cup of coffee in front of him.

 _'The Emerald department is a Shoujo manga editing department that doubles as a host club after their work is finished. They are avoided all day during work hours, yet once work is over and done with for the day, female workers swarm in and fawn over the editors. The hosts are mostly from the Emerald department, but two are from sales. All of them, nonetheless are definitely dedicated and... Passionate?"_

Onodera's mind wanders to his abduction, and then to Takano's face. He closes his eyes.

 _'Definitely passionate.'_

Onodera grabs his stomach, and internally groans.

 _'I never would have thought that I would be harassed on my first day here. And now they expect me to become a host? Not happening. I should have left while I still had the chance.'_

"Hey."

Onodera jumps in his seat at the sudden voice, and whips his head towards the person standing beside him.

Takano had a hand on his hip, the other reached up holding a cigarette to his lips. His amber eyes gaze out the window in silence as the tip of the cigarette lights up.

After realizing who it was, Onodera lowers his face a tiny bit. "Are the guests here yet?"

"Almost." The tall man puffs out a little bit of smoke, and looks down at the brunette. "There is one that has been here since you arrived, she's with Hatori and Kisa right now."

"Okay..." Onodera looks down, and grabs his coffee cup with both hands, squeezing it a little too tightly.

The brunette could feel Takano's amber eyes staring down at him, but he found it wise to try and ignore it.

"Do you think..." Onodera was almost frightened at how soft his voice sounded, so he clears his throat and continues more sternly. "I don't think I can do this hosting thing, or even do Shoujo manga."

Takano quirks an eyebrow at the man sitting in front of him. "Are you unhappy with being hired here?"

 _'Yes, very much so yes!'_

"No..." Onodera grips his coffee cup even tighter, creating deep dents in the paper cup. "It's just that I'm no good with romance or girls, or anything of that matter. I haven't had much experience with romance, so I'd only make a fool of myself."

Takano stares down at him for what seems like forever, and Onodera could feel his cheeks grow hot from the embarrassing thing he just told his new boss.

"Have I met you somewhere before?"

Onodera's eyebrows furrow, and he looks up into Takano's amber eyes. Takano's eyes bore into his with an unreadable expression, and Onodera finds himself blushing a tiny bit.

"No, I'm sure this is the first time we've met." Onodera quickly tears his gaze from Takano in order to avoid his face becoming any redder.

"Well regarding your problem," Takano distinguishes his cigarette stub into the ashtray in the middle of the table. "Everyone has to start somewhere. No real human being is perfect once they start. Everyone starts as a noob."

Onodera's hold on his coffee cup loosens a little, and Onodera looks back up into Takano's amber eyes.

 _'He's...trying to cheer me up?'_

"Be ready, the guests should be coming in about two minutes." Takano puts both his hands on his hips, and gazes down into Onodera's emerald eyes. "Newbies are useless if they can't learn to do their jobs."

Takano then walks away like a boss. Which would make sense because he is one.

Onodera shoots up from his seat, both of his hands landing onto the table as he watches his boss walk away.

 _'I freaking hate this guy!'_ Onodera decides in his head, throwing his coffee cup into the trash. The brunette rushes in the direction that Takano had left in, towards the middle of the room.

"Hey Ricchan!" Kisa notices the newbie running towards them, and waves happily to him. "Don't worry, you'll learn to get used to it. Its actually a lot of fun!"

 _'Ricchan?'_

"Thank you, Kisa." Onodera smiles, and stands beside the large chair where Takano sits in all his high and mighty glory.

Onodera stands in front of Yokozawa, the place he was told by Mino to stand. The brunette uncomfortably shifts from one foot to the next, feeling the burn of someone glaring at him from behind.

 _'Why does Yokozawa hate me so much? I just got here! It seems that both Takano and Yokozawa have a trait of judging people on their first impression.'_

"Onodera, remember to smile." Mino reminds Onodera, smiling towards him. "It's that small warm smile that makes the ladies feel welcome here, after all."

"Hai hai." Onodera smiles to him, and Mino gives a closed eye smile back.

"Open the doors!" Takano yells crossing his legs in the large red and golden chair. The doors open at the sound of his voice, flower petals appearing out of no where and flying into the opening doors.

 _'What the... I shouldn't even be surprised anymore.'_

"Welcome~!" The seven men sing, and the female workers outside the doors immediately begin to blush.

Onodera almost cringes at the fake cheerfulness, but he refrains from doing so.

 _'Takano thinks I can't do this? Well I'll show him!'_

"Umm, excuse us?"

Onodera lifts his head from the table top, to be met with two female workers, who both looked pretty young. One had brown hair pulled back into a small bun, and gold clips in her hair. The other had black hair which reached her shoulders, and red glasses resting on her nose.

"Oh, hello!" Onodera greets rising from his chair. "My name is Onodera Ritsu, I just started working here today."

 _"What you start with is a warm greeting." Onodera recalls Mino saying from his coaching session._

 _"You use that warm greeting to the best of your ability to hook them in."_

 _"Then," Kisa adds on, hopping onto the couch beside Onodera. "You subtly compliment them. It can't be too much though, but just enough to make them feel a little more confident around you."_

 _"Then you really get them by getting personal. Talk about your childhood, a funny story about a dog you used to have, anything really. The ladies want to feel like you're actually there for them instead of it being a job."_

 _Mino and Kisa sigh together, and they look like they're on cloud nine. "You get it, right?"_

 _Onodera fakes a smile. "S-sure."_

 _'No.'_

"Oh, so you're a new host then?" The brunette smiles, placing her hand on the back of one of the chairs.

"Ah, hai. Would you mind sitting here with me? Though I don't know if I'm worth your time, after all you two look like very hardworking ladies." Onodera fakes a smile, so much that his cheeks start to hurt.

 _'C'mon Onodera, you can do this! You have to prove Takano wrong!'_

"Oh no, we have plenty of time. You're kind of cute, is this your first time hosting as well?" The brunette giggles, pulling out the chair and sitting in it. The black haired woman seemed more timid, and stayed a few steps back.

 _'Make them feel secure around you.'_

"Hey, you can sit here too." Onodera smiles to the woman, who begins blushing instantly. "I promise I don't bite."

"This is Naomi's first time at the Host department." The brunette grabs her friend's arm, and pulls her towards the table. The latter immediately fixes her glasses, and smiles shyly.

"Well Naomi, we can share our first host experience together." Onodera motions to the seat beside him, and Naomi hesitantly sits.

"Can I ask your name, now that we're getting acquainted?" Onodera transfers his gaze to the brunette in front of him. She blinks her brown eyes.

"Oh! I'm Kou. Me and Naomi are both from the sales department upstairs. Yokozawa over there is our boss." She nods her head towards a desk to her left, where Yokozawa is doing his work and entertaining his guests.

"Oh, really?" Onodera cheerfully asks, and looks back towards Naomi. She gets even redder, and nods while looking down.

"Please excuse her, she's really shy around new people. That's one of the reasons that she never came here before." Kou explains while Onodera looks down at the quivering woman beside him.

"Ah, I see. You know, I used to be like that all the time in high school."

 _'There's a great transfer into a personal story.'_

"R-Really?" Naomi speaks in a small voice, and raises her golden eyes towards the brunette man.

Onodera nods. "It was so pure and innocent back then, I used to believe in things like try your hardest and you will succeed. I was never really good with talking to people and..."

Onodera takes a quick breath, and looks down at the table. "Let's just say someone changed me for the rest of my life."

"Aww, that's so romantic! She must be a special person!" Kou gushes, resting her hands underneath her chin.

"Ah, was, actually. I haven't seen... her in almost 10 years." Onodera corrects, then looks over at Naomi. She is finally fully looking up at him, and she has wide eyes. "Ah, nani?"

"Oh, s-sorry." Naomi looks back down, then peeks up into his emerald eyes. "I w-was just thinking t-that you're easier t-to t-talk to than s-s-some of the other hosts h-here. You're more... U-ummm. Kou, what's the word I'm thinking of?"

"Hmm." Kou closes her eyes, then reopens her left eye and raises her index finger. "Normal? Natural?"

"Natural, that's it." Naomi smiles, then points at Onodera. "You must be the natural type."

 **Me: *creepy stare***

 **Onodera: ... Uh-ummm, do you need something?**

 **Me: *creepy smile* Nothing, my sweet little cupcake.**

 **Onodera: *whispers to Kisa* Who's she?**

 **Kisa: *whispers back* Yeah, she's here a lot. Just avoid looking her in the eye for more than five seconds or she will ship you with someone. Me, Takano and Yokozawa have already made that mistake.**

 **Onodera: Oh no...**

 **Me: Huehuehuehue**

 **Kisa: DAMMIT SHE'S GOT ANOTHER OTP!**

 **Me: Onodera and Takano are just calling for each other...**

 **Takano: The genie doesn't lie.**

 **Onodera: *glare***

 **Me: I ain't just any genie, sugar. I'm a hood genie, I make all your ghetto dreams come true.**

 **Kisa: ...**

 **Yokozawa: Just walk away slowly, it gets her every time.**

 **Me: Damn you Yokozawa! You... You... Claude Faustus copy!**

 **Everyone: *le gasp***


	3. 3 Familiar

All day, the amber eyed boss had been watching the noob like a hawk.

When he laughs with his female guests. When he smiles. When he looks confused. Every single expression of this emerald eyed man seemed somewhat... _**familiar.**_

But Takano simply could not put a finger on it. It felt like it was at the tip of his tongue, but it just wouldn't click in his brain. And not knowing was tearing him from the inside out.

"Takano-san?"

Takano snaps out of his thoughts, and turns his head back towards his current guest, a dark brunette with cold gray eyes. A regular guest to request him.

"Ah sorry." He turns his body towards her, and looks into her gray eyes. "We have a newbie host today, I'm just watching over him to make sure that he doesn't screw up."

"I see." She smirks, and folds her hands on the table. "As much as that is important, I would much more appreciate it if your 100% focus was on me."

Takano really wants to snap back at her with a witty comment, but swallows his pride and smiles sweetly instead. "Of course, my princess."

"So, as I was saying, my father wanted me to go back home for Christmas Eve and then come back for the 26th, but my best gal-friend asked me to go to a Christmas party with her that her rich parents are throwing. So I told my dad that I couldn't come and he had a total conniption..."

 _'Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.'_ Takano drowns out her annoyingly squeaky voice, and finds himself returning to look at the newbie editor.

'What is it about him that I can't keep my eyes off him? He's average looking, and doesn't have that much of an impressive personality...' Suddenly that word appears again- _**familiar**_.

Maybe the question should be: _ **familiar**_ to what? Err, who?

"Attention everyone!" Onodera turns his head towards the other end of the room, where Yokozawa has stood from his seat. "We're afraid that host hours are finished for today. All the guests are to start heading home. Good on night."

The dark haired man bows, and lowers himself back into his seat.

"Aww." Kou starts pouting, earning Onodera and Naomi's attention. "We were having so much fun, too."

"I still can't believe you guys stayed with boring ol' me the entire time." Onodera awkwardly laughs, scratching the back of his head.

Naomi shakes her head. "It was fun to have someone normal to talk to. Or should I say, natural." The girls begin giggling.

Onodera turns red from embarrassment, and grips the edge of the table. "Okay okay, I get it. Can this joke finally be over?"

"Never." Naomi rises from her seat, and zips her jacket up. "I guess me and Kou better head out."

"It was fun talking to you guys. It was the best first hosting experience ever." The brunette rises from his seat, and extends his hand toward the black haired woman.

Naomi smiles brighter than ever, and takes his large hand his her smaller one in comparison. "Same here, Onodera-san."

"Ahhem." Kou pretends to cough into her fist, ruining the moment between the two. "If you two are done flirting, I'd like to bid Rittie farewell too."

"Kou!" Naomi blushes, ripping her hand from Onodera's, who just laughs awkwardly and steps towards Kou.

"Don't go timid on me, Rittie." Kou tugs on Onodera's shoulders, and pulls him into a friendly warm hug. "We'll be back tomorrow."

Onodera smiles, and pats her upper back lightly. "I'll have a table ready for us."

"Hey."

Both the brunette woman and man jolt at the boom of a deep voice, and immediately separate.

Takano once again has scared the dangos out of Onodera, standing over him with a dark aura surrounding his tall body.

"Sorry to disturb," The boss smiles sickenly, and Kou, Onodera, and even Naomi shiver in fear. "But we have to clean up around here. Would you mind?"

"N-N-N..." Kou stutters, then gulps. "N-Not at all, M-Mr. Takano s-ssir."

The brunette woman grabs her friend's wrist, and disappears through the doors before Onodera could blink.

"What was that about?" Onodera grumbles, turning around and gathering the expensive tableware from the tabletop.

The dark haired man is silent for a while, before he finally comes out and says: "Onodera, are you sure that we haven't met before?"

The brunette turns his head at the strange question, only to find his boss's amber eyes studying him intently, like he had noticed him doing the entire time since Onodera had arrived.

 _'What the hell is his problem?'_

"You must have the wrong person." The brunette shakes his head, then faces back towards Takano with his arms full with his guests' and his clutter. "We both have worked in the publishing business, maybe we saw each other at the printers or something."

"I suppose so..." Takano doesn't make a move to leave the newbie alone, but follows him to the kitchen. "You didn't do too bad today, those ladies really enjoyed themselves."

Onodera looks up at his boss with wide eyes, and a shadow of a smile dancing on his lips. "Th-thank you, Takano-san!"

"Ricchan!" A cheer comes from across the room, and Takano decides it wise to go back to his desk.

"Hey Kisa." Onodera smiles as he watches Kisa and Hatori-san make their way towards him.

"You did amazing!" He yells happily, doing his creepy sparkly eyed thingy. The tall silent man nods.

"Thanks. Hopefully I can fit to be a Shoujo manga editor tomorrow. I might read a few manga tonight to get into the right mindset." The emerald eyed brunette laughs, dumping the tea set into a bin left out for them.

"You don't need to do that! We'll teach you everything!" Kisa places his hands on his hips, looking up at Onodera.

The brunette shakes his head. "I used to do things like read all the books in the library at my high school, so this will be a piece of cake."

"Well, if you have any questions, you can come to us!" Kisa excitedly juts out his thumb, and Hatori behind him does the same thing with a stone face.

"Thanks again. I'm going to head home now." Onodera politely bows, and turns away from the two.

"Goodnight!" Kisa waves.

"Goodnight." Hatori grunts, and walks away.

"G-goodnight." Onodera reaches the door and nods toward them one last time, before disappearing behind it.

As he starts to walk away from the pink door, it opens almost immediately after he leaves. Onodera can't help but turn to see who it was, but he finds an unconscious tiny frown on his face.

"Headed home as well?" Takano starts an awkward conversation, jogging to catch up with him.

"U-um, yeah." Onodera keeps his distance, and avoids looking at his boss. Ever since Kou and Naomi arrived at his table, the brunette man could feel the burn of someone watching him, but he knew it wasn't the glare from Yokozawa. And Onodera could feel that same burn at this very moment.

They round the corner towards the elevator, and Takano presses the down button.

"I finally figured it out."

"Hmmn?" The brunette slightly turns his head, to be met with Takano's amber eyes once again.

"Why you seem so _**familiar**_ , I figured it-"

The elevator dings, and a few workers pour out, cutting Takano off with their loud chatter. The both of them step on, and Onodera presses the ground level.

Awkward silence falls over the two, and Onodera shifts uncomfortably from one foot to the other, and plays with the zipper on his hoodie.

 _'What was Takano trying to tell me earlier? "Why I seem so_ _ **familiar**_ _"?'_ Onodera thinks nervously, stealing a quick glance at the man beside him.

 _'Oh yeah,'_ The brunette looks away, and watches as the red numbers count down to one. _'He was saying something earlier about if we had met before. I'm pretty certain I've never met_ him _before...'_

The elevator finally stops its descend, and the metallic doors slide open. Onodera is quick to be the first one to leave, rushing towards the door.

There's a sharp tug on the collar of his shirt, and he is halted to an abrupt stop.

"I didn't get to finish, baka." Takano walks around the brunette, then finally releases his shirt. The dark haired man nods his head across the street, and starts heading that way.

Onodera sighs, and regretfully follows his boss.

"I take that you don't remember me after all." Takano speaks once Onodera caught up, who raises his emerald eyes to him in confusion.

"I thought I told you-"

Onodera is cut off by being roughly shoved to the side, into a nearby alley. His back is pressed against the brick wall, and a tall figure hovers over him with his hands holding Onodera's arms down.

Lips are forced onto his, and it feels like the brunette is fighting for his life as he struggles to push the man away.

Suddenly the word that Takano had been repeating all day appears in the brunette's mind. _**Familiar**_.

Finally he pulls away, and Onodera builds up enough strength to push his chest onto the wall across from him.

Takano hits the wall with a grunt, and he stumbles on his feet a little. He grabs the wall, and his amber eyes seem to glow as he rubs his lower back in pain.

"What the hell was that for?!" Onodera presses himself up against the wall as much as possible.

"I see I was right." Takano stands to straighten his back, and both him and Onodera wince as they hear a loud crack from his spine.

"I've never met you before, Takano!" Onodera shouts at him, but the information seems to travel through one ear and fly out the other as the amber eyed man smirks.

"This should ring a bell." He grabs his work bag which had fallen to the ground, and dusts it off a bit. "Back in high school my parents divorced. My surname used to be Saga. Saga Masamune."

As Takano starts walking away, realization is evident on the brunette's face, plus the look of pure terror.

 _Saga... Saga..._

 _Saga-senpai._

 **Onodera: Takano was almost acting like a stalker 0-0**

 **Takano: I think you would know more about that than I would,** _ **Oda**_ **Ritsu.**

 **Me: OOOOOO BUURRRN!**

 **Onodera: That burned...burned...like your dead parents!**

 **Me: ...o dear.**

 **Takano: ...?**

 **Me: Onodera, my sweet little cupcake, Takano is not Ciel, that won't work on him.**

 **Onodera: Well poop.**

 **Takano: The bright side is you were cute while you tried.**

 **Onodera: That's not a bri-**

 **Me: Shush, my cupcake. We all know that it's true and you're always in denial.**

 **Onodera: No I-**

 **Takano &Me: Shhhhhhhhhhh.**

 **Onodera: *walks away muttering* Why do I even try anymore...**

 **Takano &Me: *high five***


	4. 4 Re-beginnings of Love

_"Saga-senpai... Oh! You can take the book..."_

 _"A-ah! S-Saga-senpai?!"_

 _"Gomen, Saga-senpai."_

 _"I'm in love with you..."_

 _"Saga-senpai."_

"HAAAH?! STOP RIGHT THERE SA- I MEAN TAKANO-SAN!" Onodera rushes out of the alleyway, in the direction that Takano had left in. The amber-eyed boss turns his body a bit, and comes to a stop to let the brunette catch up to him.

"Remember now?" He asks, a smirk dancing on his thin lips.

"What the hell?!" Onodera ignores Takano's question, and kneels over panting. He finally raises his face to meet his boss's eyes, with angry emotions swimming in his green eyes. "If this is a joke, it isn't funny!"

Takano widens his eyes, almost challenging the brunette. "A joke? Why would I joke about that?"

"You caused me so much trouble and pain! I actually loved you and you just threw me away!" Onodera clenches his fists, determined to get answers.

 _'Why here? Why now? And why does he have to be my boss?'_

"Me?" Takano raises his voice, and the two seem to have forgotten that they are outside. "It was you who threw me away! When you just randomly drop kicked me and ran off!"

"Haah?!" Onodera gets more confused, which makes him frustrated, and he takes an angry step closer. "Me?! When I asked you how you felt about me, you just laughed!"

"I didn't laugh! Even if I did, I was a brat in highschool! Or it could have been just a bit of nervous laughter!"

 _'Nervous...laughter? So he's trying to say that my entire life was shattered... By a bit of nervous laughter?'_

"You really are..." Takano interrupts Onodera's thought, and gives the latter a blank whale face

(-_-) . "An idiot."

Onodera watches his boss with a surprised expression as he tries to hail a taxi.

"So, we've finally solved the mystery." Takano finally speaks, getting the attention of an empty cab before turning back towards the brunette. "Does this mean I can seduce you now?"

"This should be the last of it!" One of the movers brings in two small boxes stacked on top of each other into an apartment room.

"Ah, hai." Onodera turns away from a large box that he had just placed down, and points to another stack of boxes near the door. "Right there, please."

He tips his hat, and places the boxes on top.

"Thank you so much!" Onodera waves as he leaves, closing the door behind him. As the door clicks shut, the brunette let's himself slouch on the floor.

"Maybe starting work on the same day that you move isn't such a bright idea." He mumbles to himself, scootching on his butt over to a bag left on the floor and rifling through it.

"Dammit, where's my box cutter?" Onodera shuffles through the things in his bag, then sighs as he rises onto his feet. "I guess I can buy another while I go grocery shopping for food."

The brunette pats his back pocket to make sure he had his wallet on him, then slides past the stacks of cardboard boxes towards the door.

As the door clicks and swings open, Onodera could hear the door opening from the apartment next door. The brunette man steps outside his apartment, and bows to the figure exiting next door.

"Hello. My name is Onodera Ritsu, I'll be your new neighbor." He states politely, holding his hands together in front of his knees.

"Oh, you're here to confess your feelings already? That was fast, but I don't mind."

Onodera's eyebrows furrow at the familiar voice, and he whips his head upwards. His face falls, and his his shoulders shudders in somewhat close to disgust.

Takano is facing the door to the neighboring apartment, just about to pull the key out of the lock. His amber eyes are studying Onodera, as if he wasn't as surprised as the latter was.

"Ah, Takano-san." Onodera tries, but horribly fails to keep the disappointed and nervous tone out of his voice. "Heh... If you'll just excuse me for a second."

The brunette quickly throws his own apartment door open, and rushes inside, pulling the heavy door to slam closed behind him. Almost immediately he is sitting cross legged on the floor, flipping through the apartment catalog at the speed of light.

 _'I need to move ASAP! Even though I'm broke... But that doesn't matter! I can't live next to...'_

Onodera can't help but let his mind wander off onto what happened and what was said late that night.

 _"I didn't laugh! Even if I did, I was a brat in highschool! Or it could have been just a bit of nervous laughter!"_

 _"So, we've finally solved the mystery." Takano finally speaks, getting the attention of an empty cab before turning back towards the brunette. "Does this mean I can seduce you now?"_

 _'The feeling of his warm hands on my wrists. The softness of his lips on mine... I was truly afraid that I was going to get sucked into him again like back then...'_

Onodera grips the sides of his head, and violently shakes his head back and forth. "Baka baka baka baka! STOP THINKING ABOUT IT!" He scolds himself, then rests his face into both of his hands, feeling tired.

 _'I couldn't sleep at all. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his amber ones in front of me.'_

The brunette lets his left hand slip down to his side, and he looks down at the floor hazily. He hadn't even noticed his thick apartment catalog fall from his lap to the floor with a soft flop sound.

 _'So Saga Masamune and Takano Masamune are the same person. Meaning my old love from ten years ago is now my boss... What a strange and cruel twist of fate.'_

Onodera finally lets his other hand plop down to his other side and he picks himself up from the floor. _'I can't let something like this mess with work. I can't afford to get fired at a time like this.'_

The brunette drags his heavy body to his room, where the bed has been set up in the middle of the room. Nothing else occupies the bedroom except boxes of his belongings which need to be unpacked. His body falls on top of the unmade bed, and he attempts to fall into the deep sleep that he needs.

Onodera bolts up in bed, and holds his forehead in shame. Takano's face had appeared. Again.

"This way I'll never get any sleep." He murmurs to himself, feeling the deep circles under his eyes. Unable to let sleep whisk him away, he reaches over the side of the bed for his bag, which he had stuffed with as many of Emerald's mangas as possible before he left work.

 _'If I can't sleep, I might as well get some work done.'_

 **~this chapter is shorter than my previous ones. Gomen, Reader-chan.~**

 **Takano: Hey Onodera, why don't you call me Saga-senpai?**

 **Onodera: Drop dead.**

 **Me: Aww C'mon Ricchan!**

 **Onodera: Nope.**

 **Takano: You used to be so cute when you'd call my name with your face blushing red while I suck your d-**

 **Onodera: SHUT UP!**

 **Me: We all know it happened.**

 **Kisa: ...**

 **Me: Oops I forgot he was here... Heeeeey Kicchan.**

 **Onodera: Ohayo Kisa-san.**

 **Kisa: Y-You a-a-an-d T-T-T-Tak-kan-n-no-s-s-s-san? Are dat-**

 **Kisa: *falls to the floor and passes out***

 **Me: *holds up syringe* Sorry, Kisa can't know!**

 **Onodera: I really hate you both.**

 **Takano &Me: I LOOOOOOOVE you Ritsu/Ricchan.**

 **Onodera: *blushes***

 **Me: That blush is TOTALLY because of me.**

 **Takano &Onodera: *stare***

 **Me: What? Was it something I said?**

 **Hatori: ... *walks away***


	5. 5 Editor

BADADADADAAA

IT'S THE MUTHAFUCKIN TAMA-TAMAKIII

OUURRRAAAANNN!

okai i dones nowz ^÷^

"Uurgghhhh..." Onodera holds his stomach in pain as the elevator doors slide open with a ding. He slowly drags himself around the corner, headed down the hallway.

 _'Maybe reading 100 manga wasn't the brightest of ideas... I'm no good with coming up with good ideas.'_ The brunette grumbles to himself, struggling to peel his emerald eyes open.

He pushes open the bright pink door, bowing a tiny bit as he tiredly greets his coworkers. "Ohayo, good morning."

"Ohayo Ricchan!" Kisa is the first to notice the brunette's presence, and rushes over with a large white box in his hands. "I was given a cake this morning when I went to see my author! Want to have some during break~?"

"Ah..." Onodera takes a moment to yawn loudly, and sets his bag down onto the desk. "Hai, sure Kisa."

" _Ricchan_." Kisa juts out his lip, and wags a finger in a discipline motion. "I thought I told you you didn't have to read all those mangas."

The brunette yawns again, small tears speckling his eyelashes. "It's fine. I couldn't sleep anyways."

"You're lucky that it's still the beginning of the cycle." A New voice joins, and Mino strolls next to Kisa, a folder pressed to his chest as he crosses his arms. "If it weren't, you'd be lucky enough to be able to get a night's worth of sleep."

"At least he won't have to start training at the end of the cycle." Kirishima grabs a file from Takano's desk, and tucks it under his arm as he heads for the door. "I'm headed to my department, I'll see you all when work is over with. Ja ne!"

"Ja ne!" Kisa and Mino call back.

"Ja ne, Kirishima-san." Onodera mutters, collapsing into his chair.

"I'm gonna go put this in the fridge in the break room!" Kisa smiles, then quickly exits through a door beside the desks.

Onodera lifts his hand from his side, and scratches his head in an attempt to somewhat fix his horrible bedhead.

"Ohayo, Onodera. Ohayo Mino" A deep voice greets, followed by the sound of a bag dropping to the floor. Onodera lowers his arm, and meets the strong and silent man's gaze.

"Ohayo Hatori-san." Onodera grumbles, finally sitting up in his chair.

"Is Takano-san here yet?" Hatori sweeps his eyes around the desk area, at the same time that he pulls a manuscript out of his bag.

"Not that I've seen yet." Mino answers for the brunette, walking around Onodera's desk to reach his own.

"Oh yeah, he's here alright." Onodera mutters under his breath, looking angrily down at the floor.

This morning Takano had woken Onodera up bright and early at 5 in the morning by pounding on the door and ringing the door bell. When the brunette finally opened the door and was ready for work, Takano was staring at him through the subway window's reflection. The whole situation just pisses Onodera off to no ends.

 _Smack!_

"Ah!" Onodera flinches, grabbing the back of his neck as his consciousness returns. He whips his head around, to find the editor-in-chief standing behind him with a rolled up magazine in his hand.

"What was that for?! That hurt!" Onodera retorts, spinning in his chair a little to face his boss.

"You're wasting time daydreaming when you could be getting work done. Just because you're a noob doesn't mean I'll let you slack off." Takano tells the brunette calmly, in a scary tone.

"If I knew what to do, I would have started when I got here." Onodera replies, spinning in his chair to escape Takano's scary glare.

"Mino, Kisa, get him started. Hatori, do you have the manuscript done?" Takano dismisses his new subordinate, and heads over towards Hatori.

"Yeah, right here." Hatori hands over the large stack.

"Here, Ricchan." Kisa passes a clipped stack of papers, with the Emerald Department's name on the front.

"What's this?" Onodera lets the anger subside, and immediately flips open the packet and begins reading as Kisa explains.

"This is our catalog. It has every book we've ever published. I never use mine anymore, but it's nice to have just in case."

"Ah, arigato. I'll read through this later to see what things we've done before." Onodera takes a few seconds to look at the bland white cover, then sets it aside.

"You're not going to look through _all_ of them, right Ricchan?" Kisa leans a little forward in his computer chair to look Onodera in the eye. Onodera closes his eyes in a smile, and turns towards the black haired male.

"Of course. I'll probably read them all too, it would help me to get into the flow of comic style works rather than literature." Onodera turns back to his own desk, as Mino slides a few sheets of paper in front of him.

"Impossible!" Kisa violently shakes his head, and Onodera turns back towards him. "Do you know how many thousands of works that we've published already?! There's no way I could even do that!"

Onodera's warm smile returns on his face. "I already told you, I'm used to reading a bunch. Piece of cake."

All heads turn towards the head of the table, as a loud chuckle is heard. Onodera glares at his boss, as the latter tries to cover his laughter up with a fake cough.

Takano's amber eyes find Onodera's green ones, and this time he can't help but let a secret smile slip onto his lips.

Onodera's cheeks grow a tad bit pink, so he tears his gaze away from Takano, and refocuses on Mino's finger on the stack in front of him.

"This is photo composition. We use it to apply text and toner with a X-acto knife, otherwise called a cutter, and a ruler." Mino begins his lesson, placing an X-acto knife and a metal ruler next to the photo composition sheets.

"Here's a few pages from the magazine we published last month." Mino places a small stack of manuscript next to the photo composition. "You can practice putting the text on here."

"Hai." Onodera picks up the X-Acto knife and ruler, and begins cutting out the text box for the first page.

"Generally with the next technology, we put the text on digitally, but this is a good skill to have." Mino adds on as Onodera gets to work, and the brunette nods his head to let him know that he heard.

"Careful you don't go crooked!" Mino alerts Onodera, who nods again and slowly and carefully cuts out the text.

"You know, they say that a crooked photo composition is the sign of a broken heart." Kisa informs the newbie, sticking his index finger in the air.

Hatori walks past behind him, and tells Kisa: "You were crooked last time, Kisa."

"Wah?!" Kisa whips around in his computer chair towards Hatori, bewildered. "I was?! Where?!"

 **Oh how I hate filler chapters, they always just serve no purpose and are annoying as hell. But this one was necessary, don't kill me.**

 **Onodera: Takano is annoying.**

 **Takano &Mina: And you love it.**

 **Takano &Mina: Jinx! Double Jinx! Triple Jink! Onodera is a sexy wittle baby!**

 **Onodera: ... What the hell...**

 **Takano &Mina: Onodera's password to his laptop is lit9867! HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?! Stop talking at the same time as me!**

 **Onodera: Just shut the hell up!**

 **Takano &Mina: Never. GODDAMMIT STOP SAYING THE SAME THING AS ME!**

 **Onodera: *leaves***


End file.
